1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoding.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Spatially Coupled Low Density Parity Check (SC-LDPC) code has an advantage of being able to support parallel decoding by applying a pipeline structure at a decoder. Accordingly, a codeword having a length which cannot be processed by the existing SC-LDPC encoding method may be considered.
Meanwhile, one of main features of the LDPC code is that the performance is improved as a length of a codeword becomes longer, when a parity check matrix has the same matrix structure. Accordingly, it is advantageous to use a long LDPC codeword in terms of the performance, if possible.
A maximum length of an LDPC codeword which has been used in a common communication and broadcasting system is 64,800 bits. However, in case of the SC-LDPC code, it is possible to decode a codeword having a much longer bit length with realistic complexity. Accordingly, the SC-LDPC code may be designed as a parity check matrix which is larger than the existing LDPC code.
Meanwhile, as a length of a codeword becomes longer, the complexity of an encoder increases. In order to resolve this problem, a codeword having an Irregular Repeat Accumulate (IRA) structure may be used.
However, a Spatially Coupled Irregular Repeat Accumulate (SC-IRA) code also has a problem that the encoding complexity increases linearly as a length of a codeword becomes longer. Accordingly, there is a need for a method of decreasing the encoding complexity of the SC-IRA code.